The PowerBook 500 series ships with the system extension Assistant Toolbox v1.1 installed. The Assistant Toolbox has a feature called Print Later that allows a user who normally prints to networked printer to spool documents for printing while not physically connected to the network. While the Assistant Toolbox is usually installed on PowerBook computers, any Macintosh with it installed can experience similar issues.
The above problem occurs when a user attempts to print to a LaserWriter Select 310. With the Assistant Toolbox extension loaded and AppleTalk active, when you try to print you get the following dialog box:
"This document can not be printed at the current time on the printer 'LaserWriter Select 310' because the printer is not available on the AppleTalk network."
If AppleTalk is inactive then a dialog box will read: "This document cannot be printed at the current time because AppleTalk is inactive. To activate AppleTalk, go to the Chooser."
There is no selection that will allow the user to print a document on the LaserWriter 310. Here are some workarounds:
Solution
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Assistant Toolbox version 1.3 (which ships as part of System 7.5 Update 2.0) resolves this issue. Please update to this version.
NOTE:
Assistant Toolbox v1.2 which shipped with System 7.5 does not resolve this issue.
Article Change History:
14 May 1996 - Updated to add reference to Assistant Toolbox 1.3
23 Mar 1995 - Added information about unsupported fix.
09 Dec 1994 - Updated workarounds.